Among the many harebrained schemes proposed by the current resident of the White House is the privatization of air traffic control.

The existing system, even with its faults, has recorded the safest past few years in our aviation history. New avionics, now being employed, are making air space even safer. Privatization means adding the profit motive to those companies that will run the system.

As a private pilot, I am aggravated that, if this plan is enacted, many in general aviation will be forced to pay even more, completely unnecessary fees to satisfy those profits.

The airlines, foolishly supporting this move, are shortsighted. There is an acute shortage of new pilots to fill the cockpits of the growing number of planes in the airline inventories. Flight schools that train civilian pilots will be forced to increase tuition, thus lowering the pool of young people who can afford the lengthy training process they must go through to become airline pilots.

Socialized air traffic control may be dirty words to some, but consider the cost of two tickets to visit Grandma next Christmas if this goes into effect.